1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a tolling system for toll roads.
2. Description of the Prior Art
On a multi-section toll road, a pass is handed at an entrance gate of each tollhouse to the driver of a vehicle entering the gate, on which pass data on the vehicle including a tollgate number and the type of the vehicle are recorded, and the driver then hands the pass to a clerk at an exit gate. The clerk at the exit gate processes the pass to determine information for the vehicle with reference to the tollgate number recorded thereon, and calculate the toll on the basis of the type of the vehicle, and to receive the toll in cash from the driver or to charge it to the account of the owner of the vehicle.
In a conventional tolling system for such a multi-section toll road, a punched card is generally used as a pass.
The conventional punched-card system is to be shifted wholly in the future to a new magnetic-card system, in which a miniaturized pass is used, which can be processed easily at high speed by an electronic computer. On newly-constructed toll roads, a magnetic-card system is employed from the first, and, therefore, no problem in changing over is present. On the other hand, in an existing toll road, in which a punched-card system is employed, it is necessary that the punched-card system be changed over to a magnetic-card system. It is practically impossible to shift a punched-card system to a magnetic-card system with the toll road closed completely; it is necessary that the punched-card system be shifted to a magnetic-card system gradually as the tolling system as a whole is kept operational. It takes a considerably long period of time to complete the shifting from one tolling system to another. Moreover, there are operational problems in many respects in shifting from one tolling system to the other while keeping the toll road in operation.